Hi all
I had some work to do in Maitland yesterday morning, and rather than spend
my afternoon on the F3, I decided to take a bit of time out to visit a few
sites in Newcastle. I did not include Ash Island on my plan, as I think
that it is still closed to the general public?
First stop, as I was in Maitland, was Walka Water Works, which I'd never
visited before. Fairly quiet there - a big flock of Yellow Rumped
Thornbills greeted me at the entrance and there were many Red Rumped Parrots
and Eastern Rosellas about. On the water, the Great Crested Grebes had had
a reasonable breeding season, as many of the birds on the water (about 20
all up) still bore remains of the stripy heads of their juvenile plumage,
notably about the head. There was a single Hardhead on the water too - the
first one I have seen in eastern NSW this year.
Next stop, as it was high tide, was Stockton Sandspit. The spit area itself
held lots of Eastern Curlew and Bar Tailed Godwits - several colouring up.
There were 12 Caspian terns there too, 2 Pied Oystercatchers and several Red
Capped Plovers in the samphire. There were also some Red Necked Stints on
the water line, which periodically flew up, circled round and came back to
the sand. I could see big mobs of birds over on the dykes on the far side
of the river, and fortuitously a Sea Eagle came along a flushed a load off,
many of which came streaming across to the sandspit. Included in this
movement were 2 Black Tailed Godwits and a Whimbrel. There were still
plenty of birds on the far side - would love to know if anybody has used a
boat to check them out recently. Certainly looked like there were
Greenshanks (very white and slender when the flew post-eagle) and some
shorter looking brown birds next to the Curlews and Godwits - Knot?
Anything smaller than that was not distinguishable at that distance.
Finally, I called in at the Shortlands Wetland Centre in Sandgate and
wandered around. The egret rookery is in full swing and off limits, but
there were plenty of all 4 egrets to be seen around the place, as well as
lots of Royal Spoonbills and a single Yellow Billed Spoonbill. The
Moorhens, Coots and Swamphens have also had a good season, with many chicks
in varying stages of growth and plumage - often causing temporary burst of
excitement as small grey birds emerged from reed beds, only to be identified
as baby gallinules, not crakes! I did see a single Buff banded Rail in the
muddy pond next to the Ribbon Pond. Near the egret tower there was a single
Striped Honeyeater and a single Spangled Drongo between the Brambles Pond
and the canoe trail.There were also 6 White Breasted Woodswallow flying over
the area and a family(?) of 6 Whistling Kites too. I encountered a female
Sparrowhawk at the kill (looked like an Indian Myna - good girl), a Tawny
Grassbird in one of the reed beds and several families of Olive-backed
Orioles and Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrikes feeding big youngsters. The feral(?)
Magpie Geese here seem to have multiplied since my last visit in 2009 and
had several brown coloured youngsters with them. There was a Swamp Harrier
and a couple of Sea-Eagles seen over head and as I left a Peregrine put in
an appearance.
The big excitement here was nearly getting locked in - after timing my
return for just after 4:30, I was told "you're lucky - we close at 4" - I
pointed out that the sign just by the entrance door to the visitor centre
reads "Weekdays 10am-5pm" so I would not have been impressed if I had been
forced to scale the gates. After that near incarceration, it was off home
to Sydney
Cheers
Tom Wilson
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